The Devil in the White City Erik Larson 0375725601 Feb 2004 Paperback ·

Book ReviewAuthor Erik Larson imbues the incredible events surrounding the 1893 Chicago World's Fair with such drama that readers may find themselves checking the book's categorization to be sure that The Devil in the White City is not, in fact, a highly imaginative novel. Larson tells the stories of two men: Daniel H. Burnham, the architect responsible for the fair's construction, and H.H. Holmes, a serial killer masquerading as a charming doctor. Burnham's challenge was immense. In a short period of time, he was forced to overcome the death of his partner and numerous other obstacles to construct the famous "White City" around which the fair was built. His efforts to complete the project, and the fair's incredible success, are skillfully related along with entertaining appearances by such notables as Buffalo Bill Cody, Susan B. Anthony, and Thomas...

Book Review
The Greatest Manhunt in American History For 12 days after his brazen assassination of Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth was at large, and in Manhunt, historian James L. Swanson tells the vivid, fully documented tale of his escape and the wild, massive pursuit. Get a taste of the daily drama from this timeline of the desperate search.

April 14, 1865 Around noon, Booth learns that Lincoln is coming to Ford's Theatre that night. He has eight hours to prepare his plan.10:15 pm: Booth shoots the president, leaps to the stage, and escapes on a waiting horse.Secretary of War Edwin Stanton orders the manhunt to begin. April 15 About 4:00 am: Booth seeks treatment for a broken leg at Dr. Samuel Mudd's farm near Beantown, Maryland. Cavalry patrol heads south toward Mudd farm.Confederate operative...

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln Doris Kearns Goodwin 0684824906 October 2005 Hardcover ·

Book ReviewThe life and times of Abraham Lincoln have been analyzed and dissected in countless books. Do we need another Lincoln biography? In Team of Rivals, esteemed historian Doris Kearns Goodwin proves that we do. Though she can't help but cover some familiar territory, her perspective is focused enough to offer fresh insights into Lincoln's leadership style and his deep understanding of human behavior and motivation. Goodwin makes the case for Lincoln's political genius by examining his relationships with three men he selected for his cabinet, all of whom were opponents for the Republican nomination in 1860: William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, and Edward Bates. These men, all accomplished, nationally known, and presidential, originally disdained Lincoln for his backwoods upbringing and lack of experience, and were shocked and humiliated at...

From Publishers Weekly
As the revolutionary fervor of the war for independence cooled, the new American republic, says Princeton historian Wilentz, might easily have hardened into rule by an aristocracy. Instead, the electoral franchise expanded and the democratic creed transformed every aspect of American society. At its least inspired, this ambitious study is a solid but unremarkable narrative of familiar episodes of electoral politics. But by viewing political history through the prism of democratization, Wilentz often discovers illuminating angles on his subject. His anti-elitist sympathies make for some lively interpretations, especially his defense of the Jacksonian revolt against the Bank of the United States. Wilentz unearths the roots of democratic radicalism in the campaigns for popular reform of state constitutions during...

Book Review
This classic biography, called "unusually well written and moving" by Horn Book, is a vivid and accessible portrait of one of America's most inspiring heroes. The story of the courageous woman who guided over 300 slaves to freedom is told "with insight, style and a fine narrative skill," wrote the New York Times.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.

Book Description
Born a slave, Harriet Tubman dreamed of freedom. And through hard work and her willingness to risk everything-including her life-she was able to make that dream come true.But after making her escape, Harriet realized that her own freedom was not enough. So she became a conductor on the Underground Railroad, and devoted her life to helping others make the journey out of bondage. An invisible threat to...

From Publishers Weekly
Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist McMurtry (Lonesome Dove) recounts six Western frontier massacres in this meandering mixture of memoir, literary criticism, jeremiad and history. "In most cases," McMurtry acknowledges, "the only undisputed fact about a given massacre is the date on which it occurred." Rightly enough, such disputes don't keep him from approaching these subjects with strong opinions. "Whites killed whites" at Mountain Meadows (1857); "a camp of one hundred percent peaceful Indians" was attacked at Sand Creek (1864). At Marias River (1870), Blackfeet Indians "dying anyway" of smallpox were slaughtered, and at Camp Grant (1871) "all the people killed—excepting one old man and a 'well-grown' boy—were women and children." McMurtry's easygoing voice and hop-and-skip pace leave...

VERANDA, May-June 2006
" critical addition to every design library mind-boggling in its profundity of detail from remarkable sources "

Book Description
JANSEN is the first comprehensive study of Maison Jansen - the most celebrated decorating house of the 20th century. the book documents the evolution of this legendary Paris-based company from family firm to global enterprise. It showcases over 30 of the firm's most alluring commissions, including rooms for the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, the Shah and Shahbanou of Iran, and President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy for whom Jansen renovated and redecorated the White House. Over 300 illustrations in color and duotone.

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The Real Deadwood: True Life Histories of Will Bill Hickock, Calamity Jane, Outlaw Towns, and other Characters of the Lawless West John Ames 1596090316 September 2004 Paperback ·

Book Description
Supported by strong ratings and a rich history, The Real Deadwood provides background and historical accuracy for the figures depicted on the hit HBO series, and takes a broader look at the times that spawned them. Covering law and order, politics, journalism, and early medicine, and examining some "historical guest stars" who may play a factor in future Deadwood episodes (Teddy Roosevelt was an acquaintance of series protagonist Seth Bullock and made several visits to the lawless town; Bullock turned away Wyatt Earp when he offered his services as a lawman)-The Real Deadwood will allow readers to traverse the unpaved streets of an outlaw town without ever getting their boots dirty.

About the Author
John Ames is the author of several western adventures, including...

From Publishers Weekly
The shocks that devastated the Mississippi River town of New Madrid, Mo., and environs in the winter of 1812 were among the strongest earthquakes in America's history. But in human terms they were fairly inconsequential (about 100 people died in the lightly populated area), hence the resort to empire, intrigue and murder to flesh out this engaging if haphazard survey of the Mississippi valley frontier. Journalist and scriptwriter Feldman gives a lucid rundown of the geology and seismology of the quakes and skillfully deploys sparse firsthand memoirs of the disaster to describe the titanic upheavals of earth and water that terrified onlookers. But that leaves most of the book still to write, so he brings in other developments tenuously related to the earthquake and the region. These include the brutal Indian wars...

The Judgment of Paris : The Revolutionary Decade That Gave the World Impressionism Ross King 0802714668 January 10, 2006 Hardcover
·

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. NBCC finalist King (Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling) presents an engrossing account of the years from 1863—when paintings denied entry into the French Academy's yearly Salon were shown at the Salon des Refusés—to 1874, the date of the first Impressionist exhibition. To dramatize the conflict between academicians and innovators during these years, he follows the careers of two formidable, and very different, artists: Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier, a conservative painter celebrated for detailed historical subjects, and Édouard Manet, whose painting Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe caused an uproar at the Salon des Refusés. Many other artists of the day, among them Courbet, Degas, Morisot, Monet and Cézanne, are included in King's compelling narrative,...

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. So deep was the link between painter Paul Cézanne and Provence, National Gallery of Art curator Conisbee surmises, that the red pigment in Cézanne's paints came directly from the marne rouge, the region's red soil. In this volume, which accompanies an exhibition of the same name, Conisbee, Musée de Granet director Coutagne and others explore the painter's relationship with the region in exhaustive detail, offering insight into his methods and motivations. Cézanne eschewed scenes of the region's modernization for scenes of classical evocation and timelessness, and his choice to paint en pleine air was inspired not just by his mentor, the Impressionist Camille Pisarro, but also by an intense desire for isolation. "Isolation, that's what I deserve." he wrote. "At least...

Mornings on Horseback David McCullough 0671447548 May 1982 Paperback ·

Review
Denver PostA fine account of Roosevelt's rise to manhood, well written and, like its subject, full of irrepressible vitality. Detroit NewsThis is a marvelous chronicle of manners and morals, love and duty, and as captivating as anything you will find between book covers in a long while. John LeonardThe New York TimesWe have no better social historian.

Review
John Leonard The New York Times We have no better social historian.

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Undaunted Courage Stephen E. Ambrose 0684826976 June 1997 Paperback ·

Book Review
A biography of Meriwether Lewis that relies heavily on the journals of both Lewis and Clark, this book is also backed up by the author's personal travels along Lewis and Clark's route to the Pacific. Ambrose is not content to simply chronicle the events of the "Corps of Discovery" as the explorers called their ventures. He often pauses to assess the military leadership of Lewis and Clark, how they negotiated with various native peoples and what they reported to Jefferson. Though the expedition failed to find Jefferson's hoped for water route to the Pacific, it fired interest among fur traders and other Americans, changing the face of the West forever.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.

From Publishers Weekly
Ambrose has written prolifically about men who were...

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) Frederick Douglass 1593080417 November 2003 Paperback ·

Book Description
No book except perhaps Uncle Tom’s Cabin had as powerful an impact on the abolitionist movement as Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. But while Stowe wrote about imaginary characters, Douglass’s book is a record of his own remarkable life. Born a slave in 1818 on a plantation in Maryland, Douglass taught himself to read and write. In 1845, seven years after escaping to the North, he published Narrative, the first of three autobiographies. This book calmly but dramatically recounts the horrors and the accomplishments of his early years—the daily, casual brutality of the white masters; his painful efforts to educate himself; his decision to find freedom or die; and his harrowing but successful escape. An astonishing orator and a skillful writer, Douglass became a newspaper...

The Divided Ground : Indians, Settlers, and the Northern Borderland of the American Revolution Alan Taylor 0679454713 February 21, 2006 Hardcover
·

From Publishers Weekly
The study of borderlands is hot; Pulitzer and Bancroft prize–winning historian Taylor (William Cooper's Town) offers a rich, sprawling history focusing on the Iroquois Six Nations of New York and Upper Canada during the era of the American Revolution. Taylor examines Indians' wise but unsuccessful attempts to hold onto their land as colonists encroached on it. One of Taylor's great insights is that historians have taken at face value what European settlers said about the "preemption rights" by which colonists and imperial governments claimed Indian territory. Taylor recovers Indians' reactions to those "rights." Many Indian leaders, recognizing that they couldn't reverse European settlement, tried to at least dictate how that settlement would unfold—they wished to lease, rather than sell, their land,...

Nothing Like It in the World Stephen E. Ambrose 0743203178 Nov 2001 Paperback ·

Book Review
Abraham Lincoln, who had worked as a riverboat pilot before turning to politics, knew a thing or two about the problems of transporting goods and people from place to place. He was also convinced that the United States would flourish only if its far-flung regions were linked, replacing sectional loyalties with an overarching sense of national destiny.

Building a transcontinental railroad, writes the prolific historian Stephen Ambrose, was second only to the abolition of slavery on Lincoln's presidential agenda. Through an ambitious program of land grants and low-interest government loans, he encouraged entrepreneurs such as California's "Big Four"--Charles Crocker, Collis Huntington, Mark Hopkins, and Leland Stanford--to take on the task of stringing steel rails from ocean to ocean. The real work of doing so, of course,...

Book Description
Along with Russian constructivism and surrealism, Dada stands as one of the three most significant movements of the historical avant-garde. Born in the heart of Europe in the midst of World War I, Dada displayed a raucous skepticism about accepted values. Its embrace of new materials, of collage and assemblage techniques, of the designation of manufactured objects as art objects as well as its interest in performance, sound poetry, and manifestos fundamentally shaped the terms of modern art practice and created an abiding legacy for postwar art. Yet, while the word Dada has common currency, few know much about Dada art itself. In contrast to other key avant-garde movements, there has never been a major American exhibition that explores Dada specifically in broad view. Dada--the catalogue to the exhibition on view in...

Freedom Train Dorothy Sterling 0590436287 Nov 1989 Paperback ·

Book Description
Born into slavery, young Harriet Tubman knew only hard work and hunger. Escape seemed impossible--certainly dangerous. Yet Harriet did escape North, by the secret route called the Underground Railroad. Harriet didn't forget her people. Again and again she risked her life to lead them on the same secret, dangerous journey.

Book Review
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (1868-1963) is the greatest of African American intellectuals--a sociologist, historian, novelist, and activist whose astounding career spanned the nation's history from Reconstruction to the civil rights movement. Born in Massachusetts and educated at Fisk, Harvard, and the University of Berlin, Du Bois penned his epochal masterpiece, The Souls of Black Folk, in 1903. It remains his most studied and popular work; its insights into Negro life at the turn of the 20th century still ring true.

With a dash of the Victorian and Enlightenment influences that peppered his impassioned yet formal prose, the book's largely autobiographical chapters take the reader through the momentous and moody maze of Afro-American life after the Emancipation Proclamation: from poverty, the neoslavery of the...

Edward Said, Columbia University
"Homi Bhabha is that rare thing, a reader of enormous subtlety and wit, a theorist of uncommon power. His work is landmark in the exchange between ages, genres, and cultures, the colonial, post-colonial, modernist and postmodern."
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Toni Morrison, Princeton University
"Homi Bhabha is one of that small group occupying the front ranks of literary and cultural theoretical thought. Any serious discussion of postcolonial/postmodern scholarship is inconceivable without referencing Mr. Bhabha."
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Book DescriptionAstonishing creations by masters of the art, such as Escher, Dali, and Archimbolo; amazing visual trickery; and an illuminating foreword by the Pulitzer Prize--winning author Douglas R. Hofstadter make this 320-page, breathtaking collection the definitive book of optical illusions.

Rings of seahorses that seem to rotate on the page. Butterflies that transform right before your eyes into two warriors with their horses. A mosaic portrait of oceanographer Jacques Cousteau made from seashells. These dazzling and often playful artistic creations manipulate perspective so cleverly that they simply outwit our brains: we can’t just take a quick glance and turn away. They compel us to look once, twice, and over and over again, as we try to figure out exactly how the delightful trickery manages to fool our...

Battle Cry of Freedom (Oxford History of the United States Series): The Civil War Era James M. McPherson 019516895X October 2003 Paperback ·

Book Review
Published in 1988 to universal acclaim, this single-volume treatment of the Civil War quickly became recognized as the new standard in its field. James M. McPherson, who won the Pulitzer Prize for this book, impressively combines a brisk writing style with an admirable thoroughness. He covers the military aspects of the war in all of the necessary detail, and also provides a helpful framework describing the complex economic, political, and social forces behind the conflict. Perhaps more than any other book, this one belongs on the bookshelf of every Civil War buff.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.

From Publishers Weekly
Likely to become the standard one-volume history of our Civil War, this vivifies, with palpable immediacy, scholarly acumen and...

The Johnstown Flood David McCullough 0671207148 Jan 1987 Paperback ·

Book Review
The history of civil engineering may sound boring, but in David McCullough's hands it is, well, riveting. His award-winning histories of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Panama Canal were preceded by this account of the disastrous dam failure that drowned Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in 1889. Written while the last survivors of the flood were still alive, McCullough's narrative weaves the stories of the town, the wealthy men who owned the dam, and the forces of nature into a seamless whole. His account is unforgettable: "The wave kept on coming straight toward him, heading for the very heart of the city. Stores, houses, trees, everything was going down in front of it, and the closer it came, the bigger it seemed to grow.... The height of the wall of water was at least thirty-six feet at the center.... The drowning and devastation of...